Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
👎 Poor quality 🍞 Covered in crumbs
crumby

crumby

1 7.0
Poor quality and disappointing
  • adjective
  • /ˈkrʌm.bi/
  • Informal
translation icon : de mala calidad
  • He always has a crumby attitude, which makes it hard for people to work with him.

Examples

  • Believe me, the American people feel pretty crumby right now.

    Blog text (16)

  • I'm gonna sneak out and see if I can find a casino on this crumby planet.

    Parts: The Clonus Horror (1979)

  • If there is one thing I have learned growing up, it is that there are some real crumby parents out there.

    Blog text (32)

  • " Joyce, you're dead, your crumby cookies too.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • The movie received crumby reviews and left me feeling disappointed.

  • After trying the new restaurant, I can say their service was crumby at best.

Synonyms

crummy
vscrumby
  • Informal
56 6.7

Low quality and unpleasant

has the same informal negative meaning without extra nuance
cheesy
vscrumby
  • Informal
32 4.3

Looks low quality and cheaply made, like a plastic toy

covers poor quality broadly, not specifically cheapness or flimsy make
sucky
vscrumby
  • Informal
23 9.3

Very bad or disappointing to experience

expresses low quality or disappointment in a more neutral informal way
cruddy
vscrumby
  • Informal
4 6.0

Dirty and not good quality

focuses on poor quality or disappointment rather than dirtiness
really sucky
vscrumby
  • Slang
1 8.4

Very bad and disappointing to experience

gives the same negative idea but without the extra emphasis
ropey
vscrumby
  • UK
1 9.2

Poor in quality and not good enough

is the broader informal label for poor quality without British usage
poopie
vscrumby
  • Informal
1 9.2

An informal word used to say something is bad or low quality

is similar but uses a more general informal tone rather than childish speech
poopy
vscrumby
  • Baby Talk
1 8.8

Not as good as expected and a bit upsetting

is the common informal negative term without the childish register
ropy
vscrumby
  • UK
9.3

Of very poor quality and not good

is the general informal negative term used across varieties of English
like shit on toast
vscrumby
  • Offensive
9.9

Something that is very bad and unpleasant

expresses the same negative sense but is milder and nonvulgar

Antonyms

excellent
∞ 1.0

Very good and better than most similar things

superior
203 4.2

Better in quality or performance than similar things

How Bad

awful
∞ 1.0
poor
838 1.0
crumby
  • Informal
1 7.0
mediocre
109 4.8
acceptable
477 2.5

Surface Forms

crumby positive

Morphology

crumby = crumb (semi-transparent) = crumb + y

The adjectival formation is the same as the literal sense, but the figurative meaning 'poor or unpleasant' is a later metaphorical extension and not directly predictable from 'crumb'.

Etymology

Crumby also came to be used in a figurative way: because something full of crumbs feels messy or cheap, the parts crumb and -y came to mean 'poor' or 'unpleasant'. So calling a meal, place, or day crumby says it was low quality or disappointing.